The holidays are near and the San Marino choirs are here to bring holiday cheer! On December 17, Huntington Middle School and San Marino High School held their combined virtual winter concert. Students diligently learned and rehearsed their music in preparation for the concert. Upon first sight of the virtual performance, the viewer is met with a bright red background adorned with snowflakes and shimmers. All the students are decked out in red clothing. Before each choir performs, there is a screen that introduces the choir, what song they are singing, and who it is composed by. Each song is edited in a different way to fit the theme of winter and merry holidays. The Winter Concert was opened by Huntington Cantate singing “Velvet shoes” composed by Randall Thompson. Student’s faces were cut out into shapes of glass shards and arranged into a formation that looks like stained glass. Cantate’s opening was followed by Huntington Vivace Girls Choir performing “Starry Night of Winter” written and composed by Laura Farnell. Student’s faces were cut out into the shapes of stars and arranged to fit the screen, making it look like a starry night. After Vivace Girls Choir’s performance, Vivace Boys Choir stepped in with “Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy” composed by Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky and arranged by Jeff Funk. Their faces were cut out into ornaments and stacked upon one another. After Vivace Boys Choir’s performance, Huntington Bel Canto presented “That’s Christmas to me” with words by Kevin Olusola and Scott Hoying and arranged by Audrey Snyder. The song starts off with soloist Devan Jue. Students faces were cut out into  various shapes that fit the theme of Christmas. Then, all four HMS choir combined to sing “Christmas… in about 3 minutes” arranged by Mark Weston. The students faces were cut out into squares and arranged to fit the screen. After intermission, San Marino kicks off the concert with Chamber singing “Adam Lay ybounden” arranged by Ben Parry. Each high schooler’s face is cut out in an ornament and arranged into the shape of a Christmas tree. After that song, Chamber performs another song “Let it Snow” words and music by Sammy Cahn and Jule Styne and arranged by Mark Hayes. This time, the students are snowflakes stacked atop one another. Finally, SMHS’s chamber and concert choirs join together to perform “O Magnum Mysterium” composed by Morten Lauridsen and “Brightest and Best” arranged by Shawn Kirchner, with violin soloist Alec Cabalinan. In “O Magnum Mysterium” students are cut out into hexagons and stacked upon one another. In “Brightest and Best” with violin soloist Alec Cabalinan, students are cut out into rectangles and stacked upon one another. Choir members are overall satisfied with the outcome of this concert. “Watching all of our hard work come together was really great. I’m glad that choir is still possible to accomplish even in an online setting,” JT Liao, 10, said. “I had a great time filming the videos and was satisfied with the outcome of everyone’s hard work” Natalie Chuang, 10, said. Despite still being unable to perform in person, our choirs were able to pull off a virtual concert with many more to come.